The Mets qualified to play in the Major League
BaseballBaseball postseason in
2006 , when they came within one game of the World Series, losing to
the eventual champion
St. Louis CardinalsSt. Louis Cardinals in the NLCS . The Mets
missed the playoffs with losses on the last day of the regular season
in 2007 and 2008. The Mets made the playoffs in 2015 for the first
time in nine years, and won their first NL pennant in 15 years. The
team again returned to the playoffs in 2016 , this time with a wild
card berth. This was the team's second back-to-back playoff
appearance, the first occurring during the 1999 and 2000 seasons.

The Mets held the New York baseball single-season attendance record
for 29 years. They broke the Yankees ' 1948 record by drawing nearly
2.7 million spectators in 1970. The Mets broke their own record five
times before the record was regained by the Yankees in 1999.
Tom Seaver led the Mets to victory in the
1969 World Series .

The Mets continued playing well after 1986 and won the division in
1988 , but were eliminated from the playoffs that year and declined
into the 1990s. They were out of contention until the 1997 season when
they were in wild card contention until the final week of the season.
In 1998 , the Mets acquired catcher
Mike Piazza in a blockbuster trade
and missed the postseason by only one game. In 1999 , they made the
playoffs after a one-game playoff but lost the 1999 National League
Championship Series to the
Atlanta BravesAtlanta Braves . In 2000 , they easily
clinched a wild card spot in the playoffs, and earned a trip to the
2000 World Series against their crosstown rivals, the New York Yankees
for a "
Subway Series ". The Mets were defeated by the Yankees in five
games.

The Mets had a near playoff miss in 2001 and struggled from 2002 to
2004. In the aftermath of the 2004 season, the Mets hired a new
general manager,
Omar MinayaOmar Minaya , who immediately turned the franchise
around by signing pitcher
Pedro Martínez and hiring a new manager,
Willie Randolph . The Mets finished 2005 four games over .500, and the
franchise's resurgence was complete by 2006 as they won 97 games and
the NL East title behind new acquisitions
Carlos Beltrán and Carlos
Delgado , as well as young superstars José Reyes and
David Wright .
The Mets advanced to game seven of the
2006 NLCS but lost after Yadier
Molina 's game-winning two-run home run in the top of the ninth
inning. The Mets loaded the bases with two outs in the bottom of the
inning, but
Adam Wainwright struck out Beltran looking with a
devastating curveball .

In 2007, the Mets entered the final 17 games in the season with a
seven-game lead in the division. But the team went on an ill-timed
losing streak, losing 11 of the next 15 games and needing to win their
final two games to make the playoffs. The Mets won their penultimate
game, but on the final day of the season,
Tom Glavine gave up seven
runs in the first inning en route to an 8-1 loss that eliminated the
team from contention. The
Philadelphia PhilliesPhiladelphia Phillies won the division by
one game after a win on the season's last day.
David Wright is
the current Mets captain and third baseman .

The Mets held a more modest 3.5-game lead after 145 games of the 2008
season , their final season at
Shea StadiumShea Stadium . While their 7–10 mark
down the stretch was better than the previous season's 5–12, it
still allowed the Phillies to pass them once again for the division
crown, which they lost by three games. The Mets opened
Citi Field in
2009, but were not a factor due to a rash of injuries to numerous key
players including Reyes,
Carlos Beltrán ,
Carlos DelgadoCarlos Delgado , Óliver
Pérez and
Liván Hernández . The effect of the injuries plummeted
the Mets to a 70–92 record. The Mets improved to a 79-83 in 2010,
but still finished in fourth place, missing the playoffs for the
fourth straight year.

In 2012, Mets owners
Fred Wilpon and
Saul Katz settled a lawsuit
brought against them on behalf of the victims of
Bernard Madoff 's
Ponzi scheme for $162 million. As a result of this agreement the
liquidator,
Irving Picard , agreed to drop the charges that Wilpon and
Katz blindly went along with the scheme for their personal benefit.
Picard had originally sought to recover $1 billion from the Wilpon
family and Katz, but settled for $162 million along with the admission
that neither the Wilpons nor Katz had any knowledge of the Ponzi
scheme. In 2011–2012, Mets ownership sold twelve minority 4% shares
(48%) of the franchise at $20 million apiece to provide a cash
infusion of $240 million for the team.

Despite yet another losing season, the Mets made history in 2011 when
closer
Jason Isringhausen converted his 300th save with the team, the
third player in franchise history to reach the milestone while with
the organization (after
John Franco and
Billy Wagner ). Also, Reyes
became the first Met in franchise history to win a National League
batting title , posting a .337 batting average . In 2012, as the Mets
tried to bounce back from three consecutive losing seasons, they lost
star shortstop Reyes to free agency, when he signed with the Miami
Marlins . The team started out strong, getting a career-year
performance from the league's only knuckleballer,
R.A. Dickey , and
strong production from Wright. But they faltered midseason and ended
with a 74-88 record, again finishing fourth in the division.
Johan Santana threw the only no-hitter in Mets history in 2012.

Prior to the 2012 season the Mets had yet to throw a no-hitter , and
the franchise's hurlers had gone 8,019 games without pitching one –
longer than any other major-league franchise. They were one of only
two major-league teams to never have a pitcher throw a no-hitter (the
other being the
San Diego PadresSan Diego Padres ). However, on June 1, 2012 Johan
Santana pitched a no-hitter against the
St. Louis CardinalsSt. Louis Cardinals . Averting
the spotlight from
Carlos Beltrán 's return to Citi Field, Santana
turned a routine game into a memorable moment in Mets history. Santana
risked being removed from the game after he went over his limit of 110
pitches, placed by the team because of his shoulder surgery. Still
Santana stayed in the game and threw 134 total pitches that evening in
an 8-0 Mets victory, helped by a few great defensive plays as well as
a controversial foul-ball call (coincidentally on Beltran), to pull
off the first no-hitter in Mets history. That was the high point of
2012 along with pitcher
R.A. Dickey winning the
National LeagueNational League Cy
Young Award . This would be Dickey's final season as a Mets though as
he along with
Josh Thole and
Mike Nickeas were traded to the Toronto
Blue Jays for prospects Travis d\'Arnaud ,
Noah SyndergaardNoah Syndergaard , Wuilmer
Becerra , and veteran catcher John Buck . The 2013 season brought
another 74-88 finish but they were able to finish in 3rd place. The
highlight of the season was sweeping the season series between their
cross town rivals Yankees, a first since interleague play started in
1997.
Jacob deGromJacob deGrom , the 2014
National LeagueNational League Rookie of the Year
.

On April 23, 2015 the Mets tied a franchise season record of eleven
straight wins. For the first time in its history the Mets won ten
straight homestand games, becoming the 7th team since 1900 to win at
least 10 straight homestand games. On September 26, 2015, the Mets
clinched the NL East division title, and thus their first postseason
berth since 2006, by defeating the
Cincinnati RedsCincinnati Reds 10-2. They defeated
the
Los Angeles Dodgers in the NLDS , three games to two, and swept
the
Chicago CubsChicago Cubs in the NLCS for their first pennant in 15 years. In
the
2015 World Series , they were defeated by the Kansas City Royals
in five games. After the season ended, pitcher
Matt HarveyMatt Harvey won the NL
Comeback Player of the Year award. Outfielder
Yoenis Céspedes won the
AL
Gold GloveGold Glove award as a left fielder.

THEME SONG

"
Meet the Mets " is the Mets' signature song, written in 1961, one
year before the first season, by Bill Katz and
Ruth Roberts . It is
played on the radio, during television broadcasts and at Mets' home
games.

Mr. Met is the official mascot of the New York Mets. He was
introduced on the cover of game programs in 1963, when the Mets were
still playing at the
Polo Grounds in northern Manhattan. When the
Mets moved to
Shea StadiumShea Stadium in 1964, fans were introduced to a live
costumed version.
Mr. Met is believed to have been the first mascot
in Major League
BaseballBaseball to exist in human (as opposed to artistically
rendered) form.

The Mets' colors are blue and orange, originally chosen to honor the
city's history of
National LeagueNational League baseball; blue for the Brooklyn
Dodgers , and orange for the
New York Giants . Blue and orange are
also the colors of New York City, as seen on its flag .

In 1998, black was officially added to the color scheme, although
beginning with 2012 the black elements in the uniform began to be
phased out, and were eliminated in 2013.

LOGO

The cap logo is identical to the logo used by the
New York Giants in
their final years, and is on a blue cap reminiscent of the caps worn
by the
BrooklynBrooklyn Dodgers. In the primary logo, designed by sports
cartoonist Ray Gatto, each part of the skyline has special
meaning—at the left is a church spire, symbolic of Brooklyn, the
borough of churches; the second building from the left is the
Williamsburgh Savings Bank, the tallest building in Brooklyn; next is
the Woolworth Building; after a general skyline view of midtown comes
the Empire State Building; at the far right is the United Nations
Building. The bridge in the center symbolizes that the Mets, by
bringing
National LeagueNational League baseball back to New York, represent all five
boroughs.

With the introduction of black as an official color, an alternate
team logo was created in 1999. It is identical to the original logo,
but the skyline is black instead of blue and the "Mets" script is blue
trimmed in orange and white instead of orange trimmed in white (the
alternate black jerseys displayed the primary blue and orange logo on
the left sleeves in 1998; in 1999 this was changed to the alternate
black and blue logo). The logo fell into disuse after the Mets dropped
the alternate black jerseys and caps in 2012.

Also in 1999, the logo received a slight alteration. The "NY" to the
left of the team script was removed. No other notable changes were
made.

UNIFORM COLOR AND DESIGN

Currently, the Mets wear an assortment of uniforms.

The home uniforms are white with blue pinstripes, and feature the
"Mets" script and block lettering and numbers in blue with orange
outline. The uniforms are paired with a standard blue cap featuring
the "NY" script in orange, plus blue undersleeves, belts and socks.
The white pinstriped uniforms replaced both the cream pinstriped
uniform and the alternate white uniform starting with the 2015 season.

The gray road jerseys feature a radially-arched "NEW YORK" script in
Tiffany style, player numerals and names in blue outlined in orange,
and blue placket and sleeve piping. Like the home uniforms, the road
grays are worn with blue caps, undersleeves, belts and socks.

On November 14, 2012, the Mets introduced two new blue alternate
jerseys. The home alternate features the "Mets" script, player
numerals and names in orange outlined in white, while the road
alternate feature the "NEW YORK" script, player numerals and names in
gray outlined in orange.

On December 10, 2012, the Mets unveiled an alternate blue fielding
cap, featuring an orange brim and a white trim around the orange "NY"
insignia. Currently it is only worn in games featuring the home blue
alternates. For 2015, another alternate blue cap, this time featuring
the "NY" in gray outlined in orange, was introduced, and is paired
with the road blue alternates. In 2017, the alternate home blue cap
was modified to feature a blue brim.

For the 2014 season, a
Mr. Met sleeve patch was added to the blue
alternate jerseys, a feature that was later removed in favor of the
primary logo in 2017.

The Mets' standard blue batting helmet with the "NY" in orange is
currently used regardless of the cap and jersey design they wear. This
was in contrast to previous seasons where they play with alternate
batting helmets to match their caps and jerseys.

* Players and managers listed in BOLD are depicted on their Hall of
Fame plaques wearing a Mets cap insignia.
* † Inducted as an Expo, despite his request that his Hall of Fame
plaque show the Mets and
Montreal ExposMontreal Expos , or just the Mets.
*
*
*
*

NEW YORK METS FORD C. FRICK AWARD RECIPIENTS

AFFILIATION ACCORDING TO THE NATIONAL BASEBALL HALL OF FAME AND
MUSEUM

Major League
BaseballBaseball retired
Jackie RobinsonJackie Robinson 's number 42 on April
15, 1997, when the Mets played the Dodgers at
Shea StadiumShea Stadium . Butch
Huskey wore the number throughout the rest of his Mets career because
of a grandfather clause placed on the retired number by MLB. Mo
Vaughn also wore 42 during his stint with the Mets, because of the
same clause.

On the final opening day at Shea Stadium, April 8, 2008, the Mets
unveiled a sign bearing the name "Shea" next to the team's retired
numbers honoring
William SheaWilliam Shea and his contributions to the franchise.

In 2014, a special memorial logo honoring broadcaster
Ralph Kiner ,
depicting a microphone along with his name and the years 1922–2014,
was displayed at on the left field wall adjacent to, but not as a part
of, the Mets' retired numbers, from 2014 to 2016. In the 2016 Mets
yearbook, a sidebar in an article on Mike Piazza's upcoming number
retirement implies that Kiner has been "retired" a la William A. Shea.
This was confirmed when the Mets' retired numbers were moved to the
roof facade during the 2016 season to accommodate Mike Piazza's #31;
the Kiner logo was placed next to the Shea and Jackie Robinson
numbers, no longer separated from the others.

Numbers Out Of Circulation But Not Retired

* 8: Not issued since
Gary Carter was elected to the Hall of Fame in
2003. When the Mets honored Carter, they did not retire number 8, but
instead gave him a replica of his Hall of Fame plaque depicting him as
a Met instead of an Expo.
Desi Relaford was the last Mets player to
wear No. 8;
Matt Galante , a coach, later wore the number. After
Carter's death, the Mets honored him in a ceremony on opening day
2012, where they unveiled the "Kid 8" memorial logo (also worn on the
uniform sleeve) on the outfield fence. However, the number 8 is still
not officially retired.
* 17: After being worn by a player nearly every year since leaving
the Mets,
Keith Hernandez 's number 17 was last worn by third baseman
Fernando Tatís , who played from the Mets from 2008–2010. After
years of lobbying by fans to retire the number for Hernandez, it has
not been re-issued to any player or coach since 2010.
* 24: Issued to two players since the retirement of
Willie Mays .
Then-owner
Joan Whitney Payson had promised Mays it would not be
issued again. The first time was to first baseman-outfielder Kelvin
Torve in 1990, by mistake. The second was to
Rickey Henderson in
1999–2000 as a player and again in 2007 as a coach.

The Mets –
New York Yankees rivalry is the latest incarnation of
the
Subway Series , the competition between New York City's teams, the
American LeagueAmerican LeagueNew York Yankees and the
National LeagueNational League Mets. Until
Interleague playInterleague play started, the two teams had only met in exhibition
games. Since the inception of interleague play the two teams have met
every regular season since 1997, and since 1999 they have met six
times each season, playing two three-game series, one in each team's
ballpark. From the 2013 season however the number of games was reduced
to four, two at each ballpark with the Mets winning six of the last
eight games in that span. They have made the postseason in the same
year four times: 1999, 2000, 2006, and 2015, and faced off in the 2000
World SeriesWorld Series .

Although their first major confrontation occurred when the Mets swept
the Braves in the
1969 NLCS , en route to their first World Series
championship, the first playoff series won by an expansion team (also
the first playoff appearance by an expansion team), the rivalry did
not become especially heated until the 1990s, when division
realignment put the Mets and the Braves in the same division. The
two teams faced each other again in the 1999 NLCS , and the Braves won
the series four games to two. However, they would go on to lose to the
Yankees in the 1999
World SeriesWorld Series .

Aside from several brawls in the 1980s, the rivalry remained low-key
before the 2006 season, as the teams had seldom been equally good at
the same time. Since 2006, the teams have battled for playoff
position. The Mets won the division in 2006 and contended in 2007 and
2008, while the Phillies won five consecutive division titles from
2007 to 2011. The Phillies' 2007 Eastern Division Title was won on
the last day of the season as the Mets lost a seven-game lead with 17
games remaining while losing 12 of 18 games that season to the
Phillies, including being swept at home in the first 3 games of the
remaining 17, dropping their lead from 7 games to 3.5.

A registered 501(c)(3) charity, the
New York MetsNew York Mets Foundation is the
philanthropic organization of the New York Mets. Founded in 1963, it
funds and promotes charitable causes in the Mets community. One of
these causes is Tuesday\'s Children , is a non-profit family service
organization that "has made a long term commitment to meet the needs
of every family who lost a loved one in the terrorist attacks on
September 11, 2001". The Mets host the annual Welcome Home Dinner,
which raised over $550,000 for the Mets Foundation in 2012. All
proceeds were distributed to Katz Institute for Women's Health and
Katz Women's Hospitals of North Shore-LIJ Health System and The
Leukemia "> , the Mets' radio flagship is WOR . The Mets were
previously carried by WFAN , which inherited the team's broadcast
rights from WHN when it took over its frequency in 1987, and
WFAN-FM ,
which simulcasts the AM signal. Spanish language broadcasts are
carried by WEPN .

Since 2012,
Howie Rose and
Josh Lewin have been the radio broadcast
team; they share play-by-play and analyst duties. Rose, who has spent
much of his career covering the Mets, replaced Bob Murphy as Gary
Cohen's partner in 2004 following Murphy's retirement. Lewin joined
the broadcast after the team parted ways with Wayne Hagin following
the 2011 season. Pregame and postgame shows are hosted by Wayne
Randazzo .

Both Rose and Lewin have other broadcasting duties that conflict with
their baseball duties. Rose was the television voice of the New York
Islanders until 2015, while Lewin is the radio voice for the San Diego
Chargers . In late season NHL games that conflict with Rose's Mets
duties,
Jiggs McDonald substitutes for him for Islander games most
times, but Lewin will sometimes man a booth with Randazzo. Lewin's
duties with the Chargers prevent him from calling weekend games
throughout September, and Rose often calls games with Randazzo in his
absence.